Method of cooling internal-combustion engines



Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

HARRY C. HAAK, 0F SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF COOLING INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

I No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY G. HAAK, a citizen of the United States, residing in Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Cooling Internal-Combustion Engines, whereof the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the cooling of internal combustion engines, and especlally to the cooling medium employed. An important object of my invention is to obviate ill elfects of cold weather on an automobile, motor boat, and other such internal combustion engines, and. especially to do away with the risk of injurious freezing up of the engine. Still other advantages that can be secured through my invention will become apparent hereinafter. Contrary to what is naturally to be expected from the deleterious and dangerous effects of lubricating oil when it finds its way into steam boilers, I have discovered that liquid hydrocarbons possessing certain characteristics (such as hereinafter indicated) can be safel and very successfully used to cool the cy inders inder jackets,

system at once,

of internal combustion engines by circula+ tion back and forth through the cylinder. jacket and the radiator, just as water is commonly used for that purpose.

To be used successfully and to the best advantage for the purposes of my invention, such media as just indicated must, in the first place, be exempt from freezing, congeal-ing, --or great viscosity until quite low temperatures are reached; 1. e., in general,

temperatures approaching or ranging down: ward from zero Fahrenheit. Otherwise, the

medium would be liable to freeze when an automobile was left standing in cold weather, (and either disrupt the radiator, cylor other parts of the. cooling or else block the circulating pump, etc., and cause trouble when the engine. was started again. On the other hand,

the "medium' must be unaffected by fairly 'highftempera-tures, approaching or exceeding the, boiling point of water.

and leave the engine to overheat; or, if its flash point or its ignition point is too low,

.its use .will' be attended with excessive fire tion point should .not fall greatly below If it boils at too low a temperature, it may boil away Application filed January 7, 1922. Serial No. 527,721.

mate 275300 F., or upward, and the boilmg point should be materially higher. Again, the medium should be of relatively low volatility and vapor tension at temperatures below its boiling point, to minimize loss by evaporation in service and risk of fire or explosion. For the latter reasons, it should likewise be relatively (if not absolutely) uninfiammable. At service temperatures generally, of course, the medium must be of such relatively low viscosity that it can be circulated through the cooling system without undue resistance and expenditure of power. Unduly high viscosity is also disadvantageous because it rather tends toward the same becomes overheated in the system.

Indifference to fairly high temperatures is of the more importance, because most liquids otherwise suitable have a specific heat lower than that of water, and hence absorb relatively less heat than water for a given rise in temperature. Wit-h suitable indifference to fairly high temperatures, however, a hydrocarbonaceous medium will in use retain heat better and longer than water, since it will stand heating to a higher temperature. This means that when left standing the engine will remain warm longer, and is, therefore, more easily started after standing a short time. Also, the engine will run more smoothly on account of the more uniform temperature maintained by my more heat about .910 (24 Baum). The relative uninflammability which such oils naturally display may be enhanced to a degree of virtual immunity, if desired, by admixture of an anti-inflammatory agent, such as carbon tetrachloride, or non-inflammable oils. Or-

dinarily, a minor admixture (some 515%)" of carbon tetrachloride,-insufiicient to affect (raise) the freezingpoint of the medium materially,-will render such a medium sufficiently uninflammable for all vpractical needs. V A. relatively thin, non-viscous agent like carbon tetrachloride is also beneficial in d1- minishing the viscosity of the medium at very low temperatures.

Especially suitable-for thetpurpose is the higher boiling kerosene fraction or series of petroleum. Petroleum kerosenes in general have boiling point ranging from about 300 F., to 570 F.; but I prefer the higher boiling kerosenes,about 500 F., and upward. What is commercially known as 2-300 Miners 80 is such a kerosene. Ordinarily, I prefer to compound the kerosene employed somewhat, by intermixture with non-inflammable oil of correspond ingly high boiling point belonging to the lubricating series or fraction of petroleum, preferably those of pour test-30 F., to 40 F. Usually this is done in order to thicken the kerosene; but in some cases, it may be desirable to thin it by compounding. Petroleum lubricating oils in general have boiling points ranging from 570 to 750 F.,sometimes as low as 400 F. For reasons which will appear hereinafter, it is preferable that the boiling point. of the lubricating oil used should not greatly exceed that of the kerosene, but rather be about the same. The proportions of kerosene and lubricating oil to be employed depend both on the properties of the particular grades actually used and on the conditions of the'service for which the product is intended. Using No. 2-300 Miners 80 kerosene, it is an easy matter, with the aid of an hydrometer, to add and mix in, little by little, the right amount of lubricating oil of corresponding boiling point to bring the aggregate to an appropriate low degree of viscosity Within the range of specific gravities indicated above. I have found it advantageous to make the mixture in heavy, medium, and light grades,ranging from zero F., to 30 below in freezing point, according to specific gravity,for use under different climatic and temperature conditions. 2-300 Miners 80, the composite medium should easily give a flash test of 300 F., and a fire (or ignition) test of 340 F. Carbon tetrachloride may be added to the primary mixture in the proportion of from 10 to l2 of the final product without thinning it unduly or injuriously affecting the freezing point. v

Besides possessing the properties and advantages already indicated, this product is of low viscosity; volatilizes so slowly in service that one filling of the cooling system of an automobile will usually last all winter; is initially non-inflammable, and is not rendered materially inflammable by the progressive changes induced in it by heating in normal service; can be safely charged or recharged'into the cooling system even while the engine is running; and is less costly than the alcohol and glycerine ad mixture sometimes used with water to pre- With the above mentioned No.

. vent freezing, besides being more permanent.

(Both alcohol and glycerine evaporate off rust and incr'ustation.) Also, the product cleans and frees the radiator and water jacket fromrust, and so increases their life and obviates incrustation and corrosion. When the main ingredients above described (kerosene and lubricating oil) are of about the same boiling point, the mixture remains substantially homogeneous and constant as regards its more important properties, and does notburn or carbonize, or give rise to carbonaceous or other solid deposits of any sort in the cooling system. If the medium were not fairly homogeneous, but, on the contrary, comprised hydrocarbons of widely different boiling points and viscosity, the thin lower boiling portions would tend to evaporate olf whenever the engine became somewhat overheated, so that eventually the medium might become so thick or overviscid as to carbonize in the cylinder jackets as a result of too sluggish circulation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The method of cooling an internal combustion engine which consists in circulating a frigorific medium thereabout composed of a high boiling mineral oil includ mg a minor quantity of carbon tetrachloride varying from 5 to 15% of the final product. i 2. The method of cooling an internal combustion engine which consists in circulating a frigorific medium through the cylinder jackets and radiator composed of a high boiling kerosene fraction of petroleum with a minor quantity of tetrachloride in proportion Varying from 10 to 12.5% of the final product.

3. A cooling medium for' circulation about the cylinder jackets and through the radiator of internal combustion engines comprising an admixture of high boiling petroleum kerosene with a flash point approaching 300 degrees F. and upward; with a freezing point ranging. downward from zero F.; of specific gravity about .85 to .91; '1

and carbon tetrachloride in proportion varying from 5 to 15% of the final product.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, "Pennsyl- Vania, this 5th day of January, 1922.

HARRY o. HAAK. 

